The Other Side of the Salt Ring
by cnk80q3ohio
Summary: What happens when Dean and Sam Winchester come across a hunt that takes them down memory lane to the one summer where they had "Normal"... Was it all an illusion, or was that town hiding a secret even then?
1. Chapter 1

*Update* I am reposting as I now have a beta so most if not all my spelling and grammar mistakes will be gone (*keeping fingers crossed*) and I will be posting chapters more regularly.

**Prologue**

What was to come was here before…..

Present day…..

She was tired, no she was beyond tired, she was exhausted, and she had one hell of a headache. For the last week her sleep had been disturbed with snippets, or flashes if you will, of the same disturbing vision. Each time she closed her eyes to get some sleep the vision returned, nothing clear, just complete darkness with a little voice calling out for help.

The vision has never varied over the last few nights other than gaining in intensity, however with each passing night it has been getting clearer. Instead of trying to see through mud and seeing nothing, she was now dealing with a very heavy fog that reminded her of the fog banks that would roll into the bay where she grew up.

She knew that she had to let the visions come to fruition on their own. She had learned over time that if she tried forcing them she would suffer from more than lack of sleep and minor headaches, unconsciousness would be the least of her troubles.

Wishing her last client of the day a good evening, she went to fix herself a light dinner and some chamomile tea, hoping it would help her sleep easier. When she was finished she made sure the house was secure with her protection lines and wards. Noting that everything was in working order she headed upstairs to bed. She justprayed that whatever message this little lost soul was trying to say to her would finally be clear tonight.

It started as soon as she closed her eyes and succumbed to sleep; she was always an "observer" in her visions, there was nothing that she could do but watch as the scene unfolded before her. Tonight s vision was like looking through a lightly frosted over window in the early morning of a new winter's day; she watched as what appeared to be two young boys running; it was difficult to tell with all the haze; the one in the lead was more like dragging the younger one behind him because his little legs couldn't keep pace with the older boys. If she had to guess, she would say that the younger of the two was possibly 4 or 5 yrs. old and the other, the one in the lead was maybe double his age.

They were running for their lives, from what she did not know.

The older of the two kept looking back over his shoulder, to maybe gauge where their pursuer was and possibly giving words of encouragement to the younger one to keep moving.

"Just a little bit more, you can do it, just need to get across the fence line" the older one said breathing heavily.

"I'm scared!' "the younger one said, "He's gonna get us!"

She could still not see the boys clearly but she could feel the younger one's fear and the older boy's determination to get them to safety. Normally she did not "feel" what the subjects in her visions were feeling, but with these two young boys; she felt what they were feeling as if they were her own! She tossed and turned inher sleep mumbling, encouraging the two to continue running, hoping they would soon reach the fence line they were looking for, or at least a place to hide.

The longer she was able to hold onto the vision the clearer they usually became….. the area that the boys were running through was heavily wooded from what she could make out, not that that would be much help in locating them. These woods could be anywhere from a local wooded park to the Appalachia Mountains.

She just continued to "follow" along with the two boys and their frightened flight through the woods. Hearing the snapping of branches and the crunch of leaves on the ground and the muttering's of the older boy, she noticed that the surrounding area was becoming clearer to her. She could just make out an unused hiking trail, and the surrounding tree trunks, and the little bit of sun that was forcing its way through the heavily dense foliage helping to guide them in their flight. However, the boys themselves were still in shadow. It was also at this point that she noticed they were not alone, there were other young boys with them, all were running scared..

The only voice that could be heard was from the boy in the lead, the whole time encouraging them all to hurry and to stick together in a hushed tone, so as not to give away their location. There was something familiar about him, she couldn't figure out from where. It was worrying, but she pushed it to the back of her mind, it would come to her in time.

Her view of the scene changed, her arms started to sting from the branches that kept hitting "her" arms and "her" right knee ached like she had fallen and scraped it. It was then that she realized that what she was now feeling and viewing when she looked back and down was as if she was one of those scared young boys. She blinked, and looked up….. She was "seeing" through the eyes of the littlest boy, the one being encouraged and dragged along by the older one.

All of a sudden the boy in the lead pulled up short, breathing heavily, but never letting up on the tight grip of the little hand in his. All the other boys stopped as well, looking to him on what to do, asking in hushed tones why they had stopped and what they were going to do.

"Quiet" he whispered harshly.

The boy in the lead cocked his head to the side so he could listen. "She" looked around using those little boys eyes and saw 6 others, all breathing heavily, dragging in as much air as they could in this brief respite of their mad flight to get away….. She could also see a little clearer now, all the boys were not very old, a couple were as old as 11 or 12, but everyone else was younger.

She swallowed thickly wishing she had some water or juice,

"Can I have some water?" she asked, looking up at the older boy. He knew the answer before she finished asking by the look on the older boys face; "Sorry" looking at the ground.

The older boy knelt down and put his hands on her shoulders, "I don't have any, you just gotta hang on a little longer okay, we're close, I know it! I will get us out of here!" the older boy said; "I Promise."

"Okay" she said nodding and swallowing thickly.

She noted that all was quiet around them, too quiet… suddenly they all heard crashing and the snapping of branches to the right of them; all the boys whipping their heads in that direction expecting him to burst through the trees at any moment. He was still far enough away, but they could still hear his taunting words;

_"You can't keep running, surely you are getting tired by now_" he said laughingly; there was a pause in his taunting.. then they heard _"Soon you will be mine!"_ it was whispered, just loud enough that it drifted to them on the light breeze….

Her breathing sped up; she could feel his fear as if it were her own. She moved closer to the older boy's side, gripping his shirt she looked up into the green eyes of the older boy.

Jerking in sleep from the shock, God she knew those eyes, she would recognize them anywhere…..they belonged to Dean Winchester, she now knew that she was looking through the eyes and feeling the fear of Dean's younger brother, Samuel Winchester.

She heard herself say in a small scared voice; "Dean I'm scared, what are we going to do? I want Daddy!" She was scared and had started crying quietly and was gripping Dean tightly around the waist, not letting go; never letting go!

She watched as Dean knelt down in front of her scared little brother, wiping away her tears. She knew that Dean would make everything all right, he always did, he was "Captain one-Helluva-big Brother!" he had never let him down; he wasn't going to start now.

Putting his hands on Sammy's shoulders, Dean started to speak, "Sammy, it will be" he never got to the okay part because at that time the "Monster" crashed through the trees, Dean jumped up and grabbed his brother's hand and yelled to everyone "Run!"

With a jerk she woke up yelling "NOOOOO!" her breathing heavy, and her heart trying to escape her chest, she leaned against the headboard of her bed, trying to calm her breathing. With a shiver she pulled the comforter up and tried to shake off the remnants of the vision.

It made no sense…..

After she had her breathing under control, and her heart was no longer trying to escape her chest, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She needed some tea; hell, she needed something stronger, but if she went that route, she would never figure out what the vision was trying to tell her. Most visions were never direct, they hinted at possibilities, by the choices that the people involved in them made. If they made different choices the vision would be different. It was just one "possible outcome."

She needed to figure out what it all meant. Was it a portent of what was to come? Sam and Dean were no longer children; "hell, were they ever children?" she thought to herself. As far as she knew, nothing like what occurred in the vision had ever remotely happened to them. However, she would not put it past the mighty John Winchester, Knight of the Brotherhood, to brush something like this aside….

While it was still fresh in her mind, and waiting for her water to boil for her tea, she pulled out her notebook and started to write. Rubbing her eyes and closing her journal, she glanced at the clock and was surprised that it only read 2am, she felt as if she hadn't slept at all. It was too early to start her day, so standing, putting her tea cup in the dishwasher she decided to try and go back to sleep. As she climbed the stairs to her bedroom she prayed that the rest of the night would be peaceful. She soon discovered that would not be the case….

She slipped back into sleep surprisingly easy, but found herself once again back in the vision. However, this vision was different from the earlier one. This vision was in the bright light of day, and she could see clearly all around her. She found herself once again in a heavily wooded area looking through a set of eyes not her own.

She did not know who's eyes she was seeing through, but it was no longer a child's view; the height difference was a good clue… as well as when she was looking down at her hands, they were large, a man's hand not a child's. And it held a gun.

She felt the burn of each indrawn breath into his lungs, the burn of the muscles in his calves from an extended run at a fast and unyielding pace; as well as the sting from several cuts and scrapes across his raised arms and face from low hanging tree branches and the brush he was pushing through. At this point she could not tell if she was fleeing from a stalker or chasing someone. Suddenly she realized that he was talking to himself, repeating the same thing over and over again….

"You are NOT taking him away from me! Not like this! I just got him back!

So, he was the one in pursuit!

Still pushing through the brush she caught a glimpse of someone, always managing to stay ahead. No matter how much she pushed himself to go faster he could never gain any ground.. Suddenly he broke through the brush into a large empty field, his quarry and his brother gone! Just vanished into thin air. What the Hell!

Breathing heavily and falling to his knees, yelling out for his brother;

"DEAN!" leaning forward onto his hands, he gulped in more air and yelled once again "DEAN!" "DEAN!" He stayed kneeling at the edge of that field for over an hour yelling his brother's name; the only answer he ever received was silence!

She now knew that she was once again seeing through the eyes of Sam Winchester, him and Dean must be on a hunt that has gone sideways…

She jerked in her sleep when suddenly the vision changed view. It was now completely black, she couldn't see anything, but she could definitely feel; she was seeing and feeling through someone else now, and she had a suspicion that it was Dean.

Suddenly she jerked to full consciousness feeling the excruciating pain throughout her entire body as her hands were tied down above her head with zip ties. God, she hated zip ties. They were cutting into her wrists as she fought the bindings. She got a couple of nicely placed kicks to their abductor's midsection, hopefully, as she couldn't see shit with the complete darkness surrounding her. Dean was at a disadvantage with his hands bound, plus her head felt like it was being ripped off his body, she most likely had at least a mild concussion.

Getting punched in the ribs again, possibly 1 or 2 broken if not badly bruised, and not being able to draw breath gave her captor the advantage of finally being able to finish tying her legs down. Drawing in a ragged breath, she laid there trying to stop her world from spinning and possibly from throwing up, when he felt a hot breath close to her ear..

_"Are you ready to have some fun Dean?"_ The spirit asked_ "I know I am, I'm going to have so much fun breaking you. I told you once before you wouldn't escape me!"_

"Get the Hell away from me you freak!" she yelled; but the spirit just laughed quietly and just said _"Shall we begin?_"

The spirit placed his hand on Dean's chest and all she felt was pain radiating out from the touch; trying to breathe through the pain, she clenched her jaw, holding back the screams that wanted to break free, but she wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction of hearing them.

The pain stopped as suddenly as it had started, breathing fast and irregular, she tried to get her heart rate back down. She noticed that the pitch black room was now deathly quiet except for her indrawn ragged breathes. She also knew that she wasn't alone, the room was still freezing, sure sign that the bastard was still there, observing, trying to make her squirm.

Dean grunted out through clenched teeth, "That all you got?" while smiling through the pain she was feeling; she said "I've had little girls inflict more pain than that with a single punch!"

The spirit chuckled quietly and watched as she laid there breathing through the pain he had inflicted with a single touch and being mouthy about it….

"_Oh Dean, __Dean, Dean, you and I are going to have such fun times together. I always knew you would be a fighter, even when you were little. I was sad when you got away from me __then, but I am looking forward to our time together now and I am going to take my time!_"

_"Oh and you can scream if you want Dean, no one can hear you here"_ as the spirit once again placed his hand on his chest.

"Bring it on Casper!" Dean said belligerently, while silently praying for Sam to hurry and find him. The pain hit again more intensely, screaming with the renewed pain, she was happy to slip into unconsciousness…..

She woke this time screaming, feeling the residual pain that was being inflicted on Dean, and her headache was back with a vengeance. She needed to find out what these vision's meant, how they were connected to each other over time. They obviously involved the Winchester's, wherever Sam and Dean were now; they were in need of help and quickly.

Taking a deep breath picking up the phone and dialing, the voice on the other end answered with a sleep filled voice. "Hello?"

"Mackland" she said "where are Sam and Dean?"

Mac, not being quite awake answered slowly, "On a hunt in Columbus, Ohio" he answered. Finally recognizing the voice on the other end of the line, Mac was instantly awake and asking; "Why Missouri? What's wrong? What did you see?"

"Mackland, all I know is, is that those boys need help, Dean especially" Missouri said worry painting her voice as she spoke to the Scholar of the Brotherhood.

"Missouri, they're on a simple haunting, something light, easy and pretty much routine to ease Dean back in since he's been back" Mac said, but he had a note of worry in his voice. Missouri would not be calling for something trivial. He asked once again, "What did you see?"

Missouri answered hurriedly, "Those boys are in trouble and Dean…. Dean is not doing well if what I saw in my vision is to be believed. I am hoping and praying that it was wrong," but both Missouri and Mac knew that when she had a vision they were always true. "I am going to start making my way to Ohio, as soon as I can get packed," she said.

"I'll call Caleb and Bobby and we will meet you in Columbus, tomorrow or the day after," Mac said. "Be careful Missouri, these are trying times."

"You too Mackland" Missouri says before hanging up. She stood there sending a silent prayer up, hoping that they weren't too late.

She quickly threw some things into an overnight bag and sat down and waited for the taxi to the airport. Pulling out her journal, she wrote down the details of the second vision. Somehow the two visions were connected but she wasn't sure just how yet. She hoped that once she had a chance to talk to Sam, it would all come together for her.

She just prayed that they weren't too late to save him…

**So thanks to those that have read and to those who are going to read... reviews would be lovely! They will feed the muse! Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 1 - HELL is for Children

**Hell is for children.**

_They cry in the dark, so you can't see their tears, They hide in the light, so you can't see their fears_

_Forgive and forget, all the while, Love and pain become one and the same In the eyes of a wounded child, _

_Because Hell, Hell is for children And you know that their lives can become such a mess, _

_Hell, Hell is for children, And you shouldn't have to pay for your love with your bones and your flesh._

_Lyrics by: Pat Benatar_

_Hell is for Children_

He doesn't remember his life from before, before all the pain and the blood and the darkness; it's as if this existence is all he has ever known. He tries not to remember anything and anyone that was left behind when he was stolen from his life and brought here; here to this, this Hell.

It's better that way. It's the only way he knows how to survive _**"HIM"**_.

He watched from the corner of the room from the shadows, observing like he has every day; watching the wasting away of the _**"Monster"**_ that committed him and the others to this life….

"LIFE", ha, what a joke; what life? This has been everlasting _**Hell**_.

As he looked out the huge window overlooking the east fields listening to the constant back ground beeping of the machines keeping him alive; he reflected that they all used to come in the beginning, hoping, always hoping that the machines would fail and they would be set free from him. He not sure how long it's been, but he's now the only one to keep this twisted vigil.

In the beginning he hated everyone and everything that was keeping him alive, but over the years he had grown to accept that they did not know what kind of person they were taking care of. What kind of… of Monster they were helping!

There was nothing they could do they were not yet strong enough, but maybe one day.

He'd lost count over the years on how many nurses have come and gone. In the beginning his family was there every day, his wife and son, praying he would get better, to wake up, and come back to them. Eventually they even stopped coming when there was no sign of him regaining consciousness. His wife, he believed she knew deep down what kind of Monster he really was, she had eventually moved on with her life. Took their son and left town, yet still provided for his care from afar. Since then his wife or son has only ever returned when papers needed to be signed or if there was a problem with the estate. They were able to escape his madness.

When he or one of the others came to keep watch every day they tried to stay as far from the caregivers as possible; they kept to the shadows, even though none of them could be seen. They did not deserve their anger. However, their presence was still felt by all from the drop in temperature in the room. The nurses had long given up trying to find where the cold was coming from. They just resolved to wearing a sweater even during the extreme summer temperatures while in the manor.

His thoughts were interrupted by the now erratic beeping of the medical equipment. His attention drawn back to the centre of the room where suddenly there was a flurry of activity surrounding their tormentor…

"This is it" he thought, as the nurses gave the Doctor room around his patient as he called out "Clear", trying to shock his heart back into a steady rhythm…. Closing his eyes, he just kept praying as he listened to them trying to bring him back to life. Over and over again he kept up the litany of their prayers of "Let him die, let him die, please just let him die!"

After about 45 minutes of compressions and several rounds of STAT medications the Dr. halted all compressions and medications calling time of death. He watched from his corner of the room with bated breath, this would not be the first time that they thought he had passed, with him rallying to life once more within a few minutes; this time it looked final.

The Doctor told them to prep the body for the funeral home just before he left the room to notify the family of his death. The nurses then got busy removing all I.V. lines and other medical equipment that were still attached.

He finally released the breath he had been holding in a deep sigh; smiling a little he thought for this first time, that they were "finally free". With one last look in the direction of the _"Monster"_ that had caused them so much pain in the past he turned away, Just before he disappeared to tell the others of that freedom, he heard in a raspy cold voice brushing past his ears; the voice that had haunted him these past 20 years saying _"I am finally free". _

He gazed around the room looking past all the activity around their killer's body and for the first time in a long time he felt the chill of a presence that was not one of their own and it sent a shiver through him. It did not bode well for any of them.

As he was finally fading away he heard maniacal laughter…

**_ Hahaha ah hahaha hahaha ah hahahaha….._**

** I know this chapter is short one... but I promise they get longer, this is a set up for the next couple of chapters plus it's left with a little cliffie... Sorry!** Reviews would be lovely, the feed the muse. Thanks!


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